Word: dollarized
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China revalued its currency last week, allowing it to rise 2.1% against the U.S. dollar. No longer will the yuan exactly track the buck, as it has for nearly a decade--which has kept the yuan's value artificially low and made Chinese goods cheap in the U.S. Here's what it all means...
...from Bangkok to Tokyo to Washington, where U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan called it "a good first step." It's unclear whether Beijing acted because of American pressure or in spite of it. Zhou Xiaochuan, head of China's central bank, said the shift was made because the dollar had become too volatile, so it was in China's own long-term interest to change. Whatever the reasons, the decision is expected to smooth strained relations between China and the U.S.?good timing, given that a meeting in Washington between Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. President George...
...short run, at least, China's revaluation of the yuan should give the rest of Asia a little breathing space. In order for their industries to remain competitive with China's, central bankers throughout the region have been trying to keep their currencies from appreciating against the dollar?an increasingly difficult challenge as their economies strengthened. Yuan reform could remove the first log from the logjam?the Japanese yen, Korean won and Thai baht all rose against the greenback immediately after China revalued. And within an hour of Beijing's announcement, Malaysia ended its 7-year...
...Economists predict that the Chinese government will gradually allow the yuan to appreciate?Deutsche Bank expects a 10% gain against the U.S. dollar over the next two years. And as the Chinese currency strengthens, the economic consequences become harder to foresee and control. Hot money could pour into China from speculators looking to profit from additional yuan gains, undoing Beijing's efforts to curtail excessive spending and lending in overheating sectors of the economy such as real estate. Also, if the yuan goes up by 10%, "you start to worry about China's competitiveness," says William Fung, managing director...
...country of origin of the cultural goods," notes a 2004 United Nations report. It estimates the international trade in "looted, stolen or smuggled art" at $4.5 billion to $6 billion a year. In p.n.g., says museum director Eoe, the trade in illegal artifacts is probably "a multi-million-dollar business, but we don't really have any idea of the true extent...